Archives: June 2017

Patient access to care scores a win in Washington The passage of comprehensive medical liability reform legislation this week in Washington gives patients and physicians a win on access to affordable care. H.R. 1215, the Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017, passed the House by a vote of 218 to 210, and enacts reasonable limits on non-economic damages while modeling the common-sense reforms of states like Texas and California. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the comprehensive medical liability reforms included in H.R. 1215 would lead to cost savings of $44 billion over the 2017-2026 period for federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and reduce the national deficit by almost $50 billion over the same 10-year period. The Protect Patients Now grassroots network was activated over the past month and was instrumental in gathering support for the bill. Nearly 650 emails were sent to members of Congress, with many others taking to Facebook and Twitter to advocate for support of medical liability reform. “Our broken medical liability system is one step closer to more efficiently and equitably compensating deserving patients and reducing the medical lawsuit abuse that undermines the physician-patient relationship,” said HCLA Chair Mike…

On Thursday, in a 4-3 decision by the Florida Supreme Court, a 2003 law setting caps on medical malpractice damages in personal injury cases was declared unconstitutional. The law, which was strongly supported by then governor Jeb Bush, limited non-economic damages in malpractice cases in which a patient was injured to $500,000, or $1 million if the injuries were catastrophic. At the time the legislation was passed Florida physicians were faced with skyrocketing malpractice insurance premium rates with many exiting practice in the state. The decision comes three years after the court struck down caps in cases where malpractice resulted in death. The four-member majority ruled that the caps on “non-economic” damages violated equal-protection rights, that the caps were arbitrary and that there is no proof that they reduced malpractice insurance rates. They also said that there is no existing malpractice insurance “crisis” to justify the caps. “We conclude that the caps on noneconomic damages … arbitrarily reduce damage awards for plaintiffs who suffer the most drastic injuries,” said the majority opinion shared by Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince. The three dissenting justices, Ricky Polston, Alan Lawson and Charles Canady, issued…

Trial lawyers are trying to slip in a fast one in the waning days of the legislative session in Albany that would fatten their legal fees in medical malpractice cases. Lawyers can earn 30 percent of the first $250,000 recovered in medical malpractice recoveries, dropping to 20 percent of the next $500,000, 15 percent of the following $250,000 and 10 percent of any amount over $1.25 million. A bill introduced on Sunday by Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse) and Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Helene Weinstein (D-Brooklyn) would allow much heftier fees. The 30 percent cut would be applied to the first $1 million recovered, 25 percent of the next $250,000 and 20 percent of any amount over $1.25 million in cases decided by the end of 2019. The contingency fees then get bumped up even higher — 30 percent of the first $1.25 million and 25 percent of any amount over that — in cases decided before Dec. 31, 2020. And after Dec. 31, 2020, lawyers could collect the contingency fee percentage allowed in all other litigation — 33 percent of recoveries. “This is a gift to the trial lawyers. The bill would directly take money from injured…